MONTREAL - Some of Quebec's protesting students will start voting today on whether to return to class when universities and colleges reopen mid-month.
The votes by students in the more militant CLASSE association are the latest chapter in the six-month tuition hike battle with Premier Jean Charest's government.
The voting is taking place as students grapple with an overriding strategic dilemma -- to suspend the fight, or keep it up and risk helping re-elect the Charest Liberals.
The government appears to have some public support for its tuition increases and it has made the issue a centrepiece of its ongoing re-election campaign.
Student federations announced the day the campaign was launched that they would not favour any one political party, but were staunchly opposed to the Liberals being re-elected.
They announced plans to protest in Liberal ridings, including that of Charest.